A California Marriage–Too?

I’m officially a Massachusetts resident–though in my mind I’m a resident of Hawai’i. Karen Kahn and I were married here on September 1, 2005. We didn’t rush to marriage but the proccess of working on Courting Equality made us realize that we would be foolish to miss the opportunity to exercise the fundamental civil right of marriage and gain the protections we needed.

My dream has always been that in retirement I’d move to Hawai’i–or at least some place with a more hospitable climate year-round. But Hawai’i will not recognize my married status. Now the great climate of much of California is on my radar screen.

California doesn’t have a racist law like Massachusetts’s 1913 statute that prevents couples from most other states from going there and marrying. Early reports say that the state will welcome anyone who wants to come there and marry. Will I need to marry again in California or will the second most-appealing state for retirement recognize our marriage as legal?

If heterosexuals had to think about this, justice might be served in a more timely manner.

2 responses to “A California Marriage–Too?”

How perfectly put! Indeed, now that California has declared SSM’s legal they will be ahead of us in their advancement of equality. I hope we evacuate this 1913 law, which finds it’s roots ironically in trying to prevent interracial marriages back then.

Massachusetts has to be constantly testing and redefining democracy if we are to maintain our status as leaders in the free world.

My gut feeling on the 1913 law is that the Massachusetts State Legislature is waiting until after the 2008 election before acting. I think they do not want to rock the boat until after the Obama/Clinton ticket (Clinton/Obama??) defeats the McCain/(insert religious right candidate here) ticket.